“Michael Daugherty is one of the most frequently commissioned,
programmed and recorded composers on the American concert music
scene today”. So reads the first line of Daugherty’s biography
in this new disc – the fourth from Naxos – of his orchestral
music. And leading the vanguard of that popularity has to be
both the conductor Marin Alsop and Naxos.

The four discs released to date have featured four different
orchestras and three conductors – this is Alsop’s second disc.
Once you accept the concept of contemporary music having the
possibility of being fun then enjoyment of Daugherty’s music
is only a step away. Collectors familiar with this composer’s
style will recognise many of the musical landmarks – signposts
perhaps would be more apt given the disc’s opening work Route
66 – but the fascination here is the broadening of Daugherty’s
musical vocabulary to include music of less instant appeal.

For those not yet familiar with Daugherty then I would characterise
his music as being a gleefully virtuosic celebration of popular
culture. He is one of the few contemporary ‘serious’ composers
who seems able to integrate the rhythms and essence of popular
music culture into his work without it sounding contrived or
arch. It’s the compositional equivalent of “it don’t mean a
thing if it ain’t got that swing”. But at the same time it is
not about trying to make an orchestra sound like a rock band.
Daugherty achieves this fusion. The Australian composer Matthew
Hindson is another – his extraordinary work Speed amongst
others rivals the music here. If you like Daugherty you must
hear Hindson. For this disc Naxos returned with Marin Alsop
to the scene of many triumphs; the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra.
Add engineering by Mike Hatch, who from his Floating Earth days
was responsible for many of the technically great discs of the
CD era, and the presence of the composer at the sessions and
you realise that you have an A* product being offered at a bargain
price.

Time and again in recent years the Bournemouth Orchestra has
impressed me with their extraordinary ability to sound ‘inside’
vastly differing musical styles. This goes way beyond mere technical
prowess – all orchestras play with superb technique now given
the chance – this is about playing with a real sense of what
the music is about. Another of Daugherty’s particular penchants
is to feature orchestral players within a concert work. Elsewhere
in this series this has resulted in terrifyingly hard passages
for everyone from the timpanist [Raise the Roof – Naxos
8.559372] to the lead violin and flute section [Metropolis
Symphony – Naxos 8.559635]. Here the horn section and trumpets
must have blanched when they first opened their parts but the
results are – just as I expected – superb.

But to start at the beginning; Route 66 is the earliest
work recorded here. Daugherty in his evocative and informative
liner describes this as; “a high-octane musical romp.” The opening
is typical – a highly rhythmic riff underpinned by driving percussion
rhythms. At just over six minutes its easy to imagine this opening
a concert. But now I’m getting more familiar with the Daugherty
style I can’t help but think this is a bit of a ‘back-pocket’
work. Great fun, a romp for sure, but just a little put together
by numbers. Too much reliance on the rhythm of the opening riff
with the local colour interjections a tad obvious. I couldn’t
help feeling this was Hawaii 5-0 on acid, right down to the
big-finish final chord. So, if I’m honest just a little bit
disappointing as a disc opener. Also, and this might read as
a paradox given my praise previously for the quality of Mike
Hatch’s engineering, this is music that seems to need an interventionist
approach from the technical team. By that I mean that this is
cinematic, technicolor music so ‘natural’ engineering – which
is what we have here beautifully neutral sound; detailed well-balanced
and wide ranging – results in an orchestral sound that’s just
not as viscerally exciting as it might be. Decca Phase 4 engineers
would have loved Michael Daugherty!

However, what might be perceived as a loss as far as the impact
of Route 66 is concerned benefits hugely the next work
Ghost Ranch. This is by some distance the most impressive
work on this disc and as alluded to above expands our knowledge
of the range and depth of Daugherty’s musical and emotional
vocabulary. Is it my imagination but the playing too has that
extra tiny percentage of commitment? Hurrah for the BBC – this
was a commission by them for these performers who gave the premiere
in 2006. This three movement work celebrates the life and art
of Georgia O’Keeffe (1887-1968) who created works of art inspired
by the landscape and unforgiving environment of her New Mexico
home. Daugherty, although still using a large orchestral canvas,
pares back the gestures creating at times minimalist passages
quite unlike his usual music. Polyrhythms abound which the orchestra
navigate with nonchalant ease. I particularly like the way Daugherty
integrates this motivic-cell structure into his usual feeling
for syncopation and orchestral colour creating a texture where
the detail is busy but the overall sense is of stasis. The central
panel of this triptych is in many ways the most impressive.
In Above Clouds it is the five French horns who are spread
across and above the orchestra. Daugherty says he sought to
emulate O’Keeffe’s desire to achieve “the near and far, both
in time and space” in her work. The resonance of the Poole Arts
Centre which detracted from the edginess of the earlier work
adds atmosphere and warmth allowing the horns to sound heroically
over surging strings. Yes, this is a tad cinematic but you would
have to have a very cold heart not to be moved by the climax.
After the exalting strings and horns of this movement the final
Black Rattle has more of the nervous energy more usually
associated with this composer. It has a toccata-like quality
but with fewer of the comic-book associations. The slower central
section is simultaneously lyrical and faintly threatening representing,
according to the composer, “the feeling of slowly walking in
blackness”. This brief section is swept away by scurrying winds
over walking bass lines and jerky brass fanfares. The close
of the work is typically exciting with rhythms and instrumental
groups piled on each other vying for supremacy.

Sunset Strip is back on more familiar comic-strip [pun
intended] territory. Daugherty has a natural affinity for throwing
together in opposition and juxtaposition musical styles. So
a piece which represents a cultural melting pot – the premise
is wandering down the eponymous Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles
from dusk to dawn is tailor-made to appeal. Enormous praise
to trumpeters Peter Turnbull and Denis Curlett who are magnificent
in every sense of this work. I’m no brass player but their parts
sound horribly hard but they play them superbly; technique to
spare but with bags of blowsy character. I kept thinking of
a kind of X-rated ‘American in Paris’ particularly in
the central Nocturne section – full of sexy sleaze. This
is the piece here that will most appeal to listeners who enjoyed
the razzle-dazzle of the earlier releases in this series. Not
that this is all in your face display though – listen to the
seductively sensuous wind solos (uncredited) that open the final
7 AM section [track 7] – gorgeous playing perfectly caught
by the engineering. Perhaps the homage to Gershwin is a little
too undigested here but I’m not complaining. A mariachi band
drunkenly wander through at one point before a chromium plated
sunrise. Great fun.

After which the final piece Time Machine comes as something
of a let-down. I sure that a lot of this work’s success comes
from the visual theatre of seeing three distinct groups requiring
three conductors. In the concert the eye allows a listener to
fillet out musical lines, visual cues helping the ear. The engineering
here is as good as it can be but even with headphones the brain
resolutely tries to cohere the three distinct orchestral groups
into one. Also, the undoubted skill in performance of synchronising
the ensembles to come together and then phase apart again counts
for little. This is evidently a more self-consciously serious
work; the strings have impassioned hymn-like writing reminiscent
of Arvo Pärt over dancing wind and ritualistic percussion and
soaring brass. Not that this isn’t often effective and certainly
excitingly played, it is just that you really do not get the
sense that it needed three separate groups to achieve the effect.
But there are always going to be personal favourites within
the oeuvre of any composer. The overall impression I have is
that the more I get to know of Daugherty’s music the more I
respect and admire it as a body of work.

Anyone already collecting this series will be delighted to add
this to their collection. For those coming to Daugherty for
the first time I would not make this disc the point of entry
– either of the other two discs mentioned above are preferable
in that respect. But it is important to stress what a fine disc
this is in technical terms – absurd when offered at Naxos bargain
price – and worth sampling for the heroics of the Bournemouth
brass.

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